A Dell PC has recently started taking from 30-45 minutes to boot up into the login screen.

From there, it functions normally.

The Event Viewer shows nothing unusual, and there are no bad devices in Device Manager.

What else should I be looking at?

It is hanging on a simple black screen, before the BIOS self test. It is a member of a domain. I can't see anything referencing this computer in the event log of the domain controller, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.

Which part of the boot process does the system hang on? The black Windows XP screen? The blue screen with no windows? The blue screen with a window in the middle (which message does it hang on)?
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Stephen JenningsApr 4 '11 at 2:04

Is this machine in a workgroup or domain? If domain, any events on the domain controller?
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Chris_KApr 4 '11 at 2:20

Sorry, it is hanging on a simple black screen, before the BIOS self test. It is a member of a domain. I can't see anything referencing this computer in the event log of the domain controller, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.
–
SteveApr 4 '11 at 2:57

5 Answers
5

It could be that the OS is hanging on trying to allocate or locate a specific resource.

I'm not sure what would be causing this, but reformatting as a last resort is something that has fixed any issue I've ever had but couldn't find a way to solve.

You could also try defragging the machine, as well as running the 'error-checking' tool.

EDIT

Based on the update that the PC is hanging before the BIOS screen, what I have listed wouldn't really help. Although they are still good tips for helping speed up a computer that is running slow after the OS has been loaded.

Since it hangs before the OS is loaded, I would expect it to be an issue with the BIOS waiting for some device. In the BIOS, try disabling all ATA and SATA controllers that are not in use. Make sure your boot order is set to first boot from the primary hard drive and not any USB, CD/DVD floppy drives, or secondary hard drives. Sometimes the BIOS will have an error log with useful information.